Composition assessment of raw meat mixtures using ultrasonics

The use of ultrasonic velocity measurements to determine the composition of dry fermented sausages was assessed. Mixtures of ground lean and fatty tis sues were prepared to cover a wide range of fat (2-90 wt.%), moisture (7-76 wt.%), and protein (2-21 wt.%) contents. The ultrasonic velocity in fat de creased on average 5.6 ms-(-1) per degreesC increase in temperature, due to the negative temperature coefficient for fat and the fat melting, which is observed in (DSC) differential scanning calorimetry analysis. The ultrason ic velocity temperature dependence allowed the determining of the fat, mois ture and protein + others content, by measuring the ultrasonic velocity in the mixtures at 4 and 25 degreesC and using a semi-empirical equation. The explained variance was 99.6% for fat, 98.7% for moisture and 85.4% for prot ein + others. The results obtained show the feasibility of using ultrasonic velocity measurement to assess the composition of meat products such as dr y fermented sausages, rapidly and non-destructively. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.